In the Shadows
by aeriday
Summary: Years after the Giant war, Percy and Annabeth have finally settled down in New Rome, with four vastly different kids. Follow Callie, their eldest daughter, as she struggles to find her place in the world and come out of her parents, and siblings' shadows. With Jacksons, you know trouble is always quick to follow.
1. Chapter 1

_Years after the Giant war, Percy and Annabeth have finally settled down in New Rome, with four vastly different kids. Follow Callie, their eldest daughter, as she struggles to find her place in the world and come out of her parents, and siblings' Jacksons, you know trouble is always quick to follow._

* * *

In the years after the great war, stories of the greatest warrior that ever lived, Percy Jackson, were told and re-told. His tales reached far and wide, across the globe, passing frenziedly through the demigod communities — safely shrouded in Mist — like an airborne virus no one knew the cure for. The hero of Olympus, he was often called, the one who saved the world not once, but twice.

Cynics questioned the veracity of the stories. To them, he was nothing more than an exaggerated legend, who couldn't have possibly defeated Kronos, much less led the demigods to victory against Gaea, who was the personification of Earth itself. How could a simple half-blood, a child of the Big Three or not, go up against a Primordial and survive?

To others however, he was a beacon of hope, the awe-inspiring savior put up on a pedestal to be praised with wide-eyed admiration. Percy _freaking_ Jackson was their personal heroes, and surprisingly, made for a rather good bobble head that was sold out within the first week of its debut in the market.

What about me, you ask. Which category do I fall into? Well, neither. To me, Percy Jackson is simply, _dad_.

"Lana! Hurry up we're leaving!" Mom yelled up the stairs for my younger sister, who, at fourteen years old, had decided that she was a grown woman and had to dress as such, though her definition of that was a mixture of two-drachma lipstick, and what looked like unfinished pieces of clothing from _Aphrodite's Secret._

The first time dad had seen her in those skimpy little things, he'd promptly turned red in the face and demanded mom talk some sense into that child and _why can't she be more like Callie?_

Mom had sharply responded that no, wearing clothes that looked like they were bought at a discount from Goodwill wasn't exactly great fashion sense either —Thanks a lot for that vote of confidence, mom — and had ordered Lana to go back upstairs and change into _anything but that. There's no way I'm letting you out wearing that!_

Today, was unsurprisingly, no different. Lana had tried on her _Mom I'm fourteen! You can't repress my identity forever_ cloths (yes, I meant to say cloths, they weren't fit to be clothes) to the stern glare from mom, and a "You are so not wearing that to Olympus", to which Lana begged and disputed and despaired against, only to amount to nothing but futile wails.

Mom wasn't exactly the type to give in.

"Atalanta!" Mom shouted again, and this time, my little sister finally emerged at the top of the stairs, in a sensible death-to-barbie shirt and ripped jeans.

It had been a Christmas gift from Aunt Thalia.

Mom eyed the outfit tersely, but said nothing. Beside her, my twenty-year-old-and-still-living-with-mom-and-dad older brother Theseus was grinning at a girl who looked like she could be Aphrodite's daughter over Iris-Message, who batted her eyelashes, mock abashment.

Castor, the baby of the family, bounced on the balls of his feet, glancing around excitedly. We all had ADHD, but Castor was the least adept in the waiting game, always fidgeting, drumming his fingers, tapping his feet, as if looking for a battleground he could finally let loose a few swings of his sword. He was like dad, in that way, and was adroit at combat, even at eleven years old.

And then there was me, slouching in the garishly yellow couch, dressed in what mom had termed as an amorphous Goodwill-at-a-discount outfit. I checked the time, and realized I didn't really care — demigods didn't have a good sense of time anyway, with the occasional monster-killing impeding our travels and all — but I was already ready to get this over and done with.

Today was dad's birthday but also Olympus' annual commemoration of the fall of the Titans, who'd tried to take the gods' seats of power by force; exactly twenty-nine years ago, dad had helped the gods defend Olympus against Kronos, and against all odds, won.

And yet, he'd lost so much even in his victory. Mom and dad didn't like to talk about it, but they had lost many comrades in battle, many friends they'd loved like brothers. Even as they'd won, they'd lost.

Mom beckoned for us to get into the car. Lana grumbled something about being forced to conform to society, and Theseus gave a sickening sweet you-hang-up-no-you-hang-up-no-you goodbye to his chick of the week, until Castor slashed a hand through the mist and bounded to the car, ignoring the murderous look Theseus lasered through his back.

"Where are we going?" Castor asked as he buckled himself in, though we already knew the answer.

Mom leaned her forehead against the steering wheel and sighed resignedly. "Olympus, darling, they're holding a feast to honor Percy, and the heroes."

It was the same celebration every year. The gods were nothing if not predictable. The same toast to the fallen heroes, the same overblown account of how _the gods_ managed to overcome their immortal father, the same inquisitive and prying looks in our direction, the children of Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase.

And waiting, waiting for a sign to tell them all we were a force to be reckoned with just as our parents had been.

I turned my gaze to the window, where the scenery grazed past the glass with a blur. _Leo Wind_ , the latest model of Leo Valdez' car manufacturing company, had been a Christmas gift from the inventor himself, who now lived with Calypso, my namesake, in the mortal world.

The car was able to manipulate the mist, through a combination of magic and mechanics and mask the speed we were truly travelling at — it could get us to the Empire State Building from New Rome in thirty minutes, tops — without sacrificing passenger safety. In fact, the car came equipped with celestial bronze cannons, hidden in the panels across the side, and jet engines, if a quick flight was needed. Tried, and tested, by Leo himself.

Last I'd heard, the company's mortal world counterpart was thriving, with its non-polluting fuel engines, and user-friendly smooth rides, though with perhaps none of the added enhancements Leo had given ours.

At the front of the car, next to mom, Theseus drummed his fingers into the dashboard, humming a tune I didn't recognize.

Theseus took after mom, effortless windswept honey hair, and one heck of an IQ, though his sea-green eyes were all dad's. Like our parents, he knew his way around a weapon, though he favored an Imperial Gold tipped with Celestial Bronze knife. He had gone on a quest, just last summer, to free some distressed satyrs, when they had accidentally stumbled into the lair of a lonely manticore, and had proven, once again, that he was hero material. Girls certainly seemed to lap it all up with ebullient fawning all over him.

Lana and him could have been twins, had she been a couple years older. Striking kaleidoscope green-grey eyes and wavy blond hair, she already had a trail of broken hearts underfoot. Her mental prowess was exceptional, and as a fighter, she was fast, strong, and ruthless. Small quests here and there, and people were adumbrating her to be one of the greatest heroes of our time, just like mom and dad. And yet she set off to be intentionally rebellious, as if homework and constant fight practice wasn't enough to occupy her time. Had she not been the daughter of _the_ Percy Jackson, she might have been kicked out of New Rome for her insufferable antics. Mom and dad didn't know what to do with her.

Castor was no slouch either. With the same mesmerizing green-grey eyes, and jet-black hair, I had no doubt he would grow into a heartbreaker, despite his current awkwardness around girls. Intelligent and great with a sword, Castor was quickly getting recognized for his prodigal skills. Outside of the fight arena, however, he was soft-spoken, a quiet ball of buzzing energy that had a heart of gold.

Not literally, of course.

The car pulled to a stop; a majestic building loomed overhead, stretching into Zeus' domain, as the last trickles of sunlight melted into the nightsky, Apollo handing the reins of the sky over to Artemis. No doubt we'd see them at the party tonight. I couldn't help but feel as though we were about to be crushed into splinters any second, nothing more than a mere ant next to the towering construction beside us.

"600th floor," mom told the security guard idly sitting by the elevators, as if there wasn't a full blown-out Olympian party overhead.

As far as the mortal world was concerned, there wasn't.

The security guard inclined his head respectfully towards mom, ostensibly recognizing her, and waved us through, before turning back to his boring _Nutrition for Dummies_ book. I didn't tell him he could probably sign up for Demeter's free lectures at the University of New Rome. Virtually no one attended those.

Cheery elevator music told a simple story of raindrops falling on heads, and I wondered why no one had told the singer about the miracle invention of the umbrella.

The doors slid open into a scene of party madness, gyrating and twirling people — or gods — moving in time to whatever music they heard. The music, just like almost everything here on Olympus, had been charmed to suit the tastes of each person.

I couldn't speak for everyone, but the moment Walk the Moon's _Shut Up And Dance_ reached my ears, it was sheer willpower that kept me from jumping into the crowd and throwing my hands in the air.

Living in New Rome hadn't kept us up to date with many of the mortal world's cultures and advancements. So on the occasional trips to grandma's house, I had once escaped, briefly to a music store, and gotten an album with money I'd worked chores around New Rome for and saved up. Walk the Moon, I dreamt of seeing them live one day.

As if that would ever happen.

Lana had already disappeared into the dancing mass, while Theseus had seen a pretty nymph and followed. I stood, by mom and Castor's side peering at the horde before us, trying to figure out a way to cross over to the other side without getting trampled.

Hands wrapped around my shoulders as a girl flung herself onto me. I would have fallen had Castor not reached out at the last second to steady me.

I nodded gratefully at my brother and spun on my heel to meet the eyes of my assailant, an elfin little daughter of Hermes who happened to also be my best friend in the entire galaxy.

"Callie!" Selene sang. "I've missed you!" Even though she had seen me just two days ago, before I'd left Camp Half-Blood to return to New Rome for dad's birthday.

While I lived in New Rome with my family, I spent my summers in Camp Half-Blood, as many were free to. The hostile divide between the two camps had been settled in our parents' time, with many Greeks choosing to retire to the city of New Rome, while training at Camp Half-Blood.

Selene, being a first-generation demigod, found it easier to stay at the Greek camp year-round with her half-siblings. Living alone in an empty house in the city of New Rome, even just a street over from ours, wasn't exactly what she wanted, and she'd returned to Camp Half-Blood after a month's unbearably quiet stay, even with my daily visits to her house.

At that time, I had been too afraid of mom's steely gaze to broach the topic of moving out with my best friend at sixteen, so guiltily and regretfully had let my friend go, with promises to Iris Message her everyday. The promise didn't last, but thankfully, we always manage to pick things up where we left off every summer.

Selene was tugging me, pushing me towards the crowd and away from my family. I glanced at my mother, who was too busy scanning the crowd for dad to notice, though she must have known. She always knew.

I shrugged, and followed the girl as she whisked a glass of wine-nectar and led us to an empty table. A single empty plate lay atop it; Selene murmured something, and cronuts, Selene's new obsession, materialized out of thin air.

She offered one to me, and I shook my head. Those things were nothing but sugar, though Selene called me a pessimist and refused to listen.

She munched happily on one, then paused, setting down the pastry, to rummage through her items. Her hand emerge again, holding out two printed tickets to — my eyes widened — Walk the Moon's concert.

"What's the catch?" I demanded, narrowing my eyes at the two tickets of freedom. Hades, it was too good to be true.

She raised her eyebrows, unamused. "Who says there's a catch?"

I shook my head, laughing. "Oh there's always a catch with you Hermes' children."

A middle-aged man plopped into an unoccupied seat around our table, curly salt-and-pepper hair and bright blue eyes, complete with a disarming smile. There was a rustic charm about him, and surely a simple man like him could do no harm?

Unfortunately, I knew better.

"I heard my name," he said, by way of greeting, winking at me.

He was handsome, that is, for an older guy, who closely resembled Selene. Or I guess it was really the other way around. No wonder he had that many demigod children. I doubted many were able to resist his easy charm and soulful blue eyes.

"Dad!" Selene said gleefully, immediately offering him one of her sugared treasures.

I inclined my head respectfully, and Hermes turned to receive the gift with open palm, biting into the cronut thoughtfully.

Selene stared on hopefully, her hands clasped nervously on her lap, as if waiting for a verdict of approval. He gave her one, smiling fondly at his daughter, and I doubted either of missed the sigh of relief as she picked up her own half-eaten pastry and nibbled at it.

She, like many children of the gods, rarely saw her parent deity, and a second in her father's presence was more than enough to keep her smiling for an hour straight. Sometimes I thought about how lucky I really was, to have both parents present in my life, even if I occasionally resented how oppressed I was, stuck in a house of six people, locked away from the intriguing mortal world.

Hermes nodded towards the ticket, splayed out across the table like an offering. "Nice guys, they are. I take it you're attending their concert?"

Selene turned towards me expectantly, waiting for my answer.

I weighed my options. Here I was, _finally_ given a chance to go out into the world, to do something normal teenagers my age would do, and the fear of being out there, in the world and away from my parents, free for the preying of monsters, was as nerve wrecking as it was exciting.

I thought of mom's stern grey eyes, of her possible disapproval, of her disappointed sigh, of the weariness that had started to etch into her skin, of _please Callie, I have enough on my plate with all your siblings, please not now_ and my heart sunk in my chest.

Hermes' caduceus-phone-thing beeped, and he stood up, apologetically excusing himself.

"Don't knock it till you've tried it, kid," Hermes said, as if he could read my mind. Then again, he probably could. "It's always easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission."

He winked at me again, and my resolve solidified, somewhere deep within me. Then he waved goodbye to us, and vanished to do whatever godly duties that were probably bugging him.

Selene stood too, pulling me up with her. "He's right, you know. You never know until you try."

She began dragging me through the mass of people once again, pushing past some familiar faces, and others I didn't recognize, not bothering to stop and say hi. We reappeared on the other side, just outside the elevator doors I'd stood with my family not that long ago.

She pushed the button for the elevator, the light above beaming to announce its arrival.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

She shoved me into the elevator, and selected the first floor. I would have questioned it, _should_ have questioned it, but something within me, perhaps the sudden springing of resolve held my tongue, and I stayed silent, watching, taking things as they were.

As with most descendants of Athena, I always, _always,_ had a plan. It was the only way I knew how to live life, to make sense of the oddity of being a part of what should be ancient mythology.

There was a sense of comfort, of familiarity to structure, to logic, a sense of knowing exactly who I was, where I was. With a plan, I understood. With a plan, I was in control. With a plan, I was safe.

It wasn't until the doors opened again that Selene answered my question. "The problem, kid, is that you plan too much. You're a caged bird, and I'm setting you free." She spread her arms, as if offering me the whole of New York City. "This is the world. Let's go."

Following her wasn't part of the plan. Watching her hotwire a car wasn't part of the plan. And then getting into that said car with her and riding off into the distance, no, that was definitely not part of the plan. In fact, it contradicted everything I held dear.

But for some reason, I did it anyway.

* * *

 _Hola, it's Aeri. I'm new here. I can't wait to share this story with whoever may be reading this! Click the little button (Review) below to say hi or to tell me how I'm doing :) If not, see you at the next chapter!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Years after the Titan war, Percy and Annabeth finally settled down in New Rome, with four vastly different kids. Follow Callie, their eldest daughter, as she struggles to find her place in the world and come out of her parents, and siblings' shadows._

* * *

We stopped almost immediately. I looked out of the window anxiously, expecting a huge monster that was about to tear up the streets, one that could only be vanquished by us but that wasn't it.

It was a mall, bright and gleaming in the darkness — the letters swam before my eyes like alphabet soup, mindless gibberish — where the last of shoppers still relentlessly milled through the front door, either empty-handed with a purse stocked and full, or saddled with paper bags with shiny logos, and an empty purse.

Selene shot me an unreadable glance. "I'm just here to get some supplies."

I looked after the shoppers, struggling under the strain of the bags. Those things must have been expensive.

"You don't have money," I said.

She grinned now. "No I don't."

Still, she walked confidently into the mall, and I had no choice but to follow her. Well, to be fair, she didn't make me, but I wasn't about to allow myself to be separated from my best friend in an unfamiliar place.

A myriad of stores, decked in bright colors and other words I couldn't read assimilated my senses. Food, clothes, curling irons, anything, you name it, they had it. Even a DIY slushie-maker, a little squeezy cup-like thing, which looked pretty cool.

I didn't doubt Selene's skills, she was the daughter of the _god_ of thieves after all, so her DNA gave her an unfair advantage over most, but I didn't see how she could get away with what she planned to do with all these _witnesses_ around.

"Grab whatever you want," she ordered, and I took the slushie-maker, figuring that since we were going to fail anyway, why not pretend for a while that I could actually have something of my own for once?

A voice at the back of my head — mom's, actually — warned me that deception was foolish, intelligent women didn't need to lie to themselves, didn't need to forge a pretense…

I ignored it as best I could, holding tightly onto the slushie-maker. Going with the flow, that was me. Didn't need no plan, didn't need no reason.

Selene looked over at me, a cartful of snacks, tinned food, drinks, bottles, and was that a portable stove? "Hey, are you alright?"

I nodded absently, now _really_ wondering how we were going to make it out of here scot-free. I'd believed I would have been able to persuade Selene out of this, but it didn't seem likely now.

She motioned for me to set the slushie-maker into the cart, but I hesitated, holding it back. I had seen a cart like this, that is, filled to the brim, many times. In fact, it pretty much dictated my childhood. Shopping for six people wasn't easy on the wallet, and mom had made it clear that only necessities that could go in the cart, everything else was a want and had no place in our home, unless for good reason.

And yet she was still a mother, and every time I'd asked for something, she'd softened, sometimes even relented, but all that went to waste when we got home and my siblings lusted over my new whatever-it-was, demanding one for themselves. And in the end, it was always wrenched away, if only to stop the childish hair pulling and kicking.

Over the years I just learned to stop asking.

"Callie," Selene snapped her fingers, reclaiming my attention. "Do you want to get that or not?"

Suddenly unable to speak, I nodded again, and carefully set the little container down in the corner. I wasn't a child anymore. I could have what I wanted. The slushie-maker winked at me, tucked away in the corner, reassuring me. I _was_ doing what I wanted.

I didn't know what I'd expected, perhaps a melodramatic, overblown diversion while we hightailed out of there, praying fervently to Hermes, or perhaps, the Mist and some sweet talking, but I sure as Hades did not expect Selene to walk up to the cashier, and whip out a shiny gold card.

No way, I didn't even notice her set her sights on a target, and I was a battle-trained demigod. Not the best, but still. The poor mortal she stole it off probably wouldn't even notice it until the next time he tried to pay for something. She was getting really good at this pickpocketing thing.

"Impressed?" She asked me, handing me a couple of bags, and picking the rest up herself.

I shook my head in disbelief. "And guilty. That poor guy…"

"Uh-uh," she said, cutting me off. "None of that. Guilt is for the weak. Once you've done it often enough, it just fades into the background like white noise. I'll show you how."

And as she said, I continued to ignore the voice in my head, and the welling of guilt in my heart, and followed her back into the car.

We travelled for a while, as I stared unseeingly out the window, listening to a song I didn't know, both of us having fallen into comforting silence. Mom and dad used to tell me stories about the monsters they'd fought in the mortal world, hot on their heels just about everywhere they turned, and how they had to keep a constant watch over their shoulders.

It wasn't something they wanted for us, they had said. They wanted us to live in peace, have a normal, fun childhood, if learning to fight drakons were considered a normal, fun childhood. And hopefully, never have to go out into the mortal world where we weren't protected by the magic that kept New Rome safe.

I'd watched as my both my brother and sister had gone out on quests into the mortal world, Castor too young, me, just not right for the prophecies. Watched as my mom prayed every night, terrified out of her wits that something would happen. Watched as dad held her, reassuring her, a worried look sketched across his face, not in the least certain of his own words. After all they both knew first hand how dangerous quests could be.

And I'd watched as my parents had wiped away tears of relief as they welcomed Lana or Theseus home, worry morphing into relief, tears turning into pride, demanding to hear every single detail of their adventure.

They would tell of how they sought victory against vicious monsters that roamed the streets of wherever they'd went, monsters, that were surprisingly absent tonight. I glanced around warily, but my instincts registered nothing out of the ordinary.

The car slowed to a stop.

This time it was a sprawling building we stopped before, an unkempt collection of apartments stacked atop each other. Selene gestured for us to grab our things, and I hoisted the bags up, struggling out of the passenger seat.

My so-called best friend just laughed at me, carrying her own packages with ease, and slowly led me into the building.

We stopped outside a door at the end of the long winding staircase, peeling paint and speckled rust, looking as though it had been vacant for a while. Without losing her balance, Selene reached under the dusty welcome mat and lifted a key. She slotted it in and the door unlocked, creaking into a musty apartment, one that was just starting to collect dust.

A careful stack of boxes stood in the corner, and other than furniture, the apartment was empty, and terribly stale. Selene set down her bags, and cracked open a window.

"This reminds me of a horror movie," I remarked.

She smirked, turning around to meet my gaze. "Perhaps I brought you out here to kill you."

My heart thudded in my chest at the ominous words, even with the obvious lie. Fear was one thing logic couldn't protect me from.

"Not funny," I grumbled, beginning to pull out items from the bags. "How did you find this place anyway?"

She turned back, looking out of the window, into the distance, into a future without a plan, into a life of just going with the flow. Somehow she managed to make it work. Somehow it didn't matter that even though she didn't painstakingly sought out options and make careful choices, she knew exactly what she was doing.

"It belonged to an… old friend," she said.

I didn't ask her to elaborate.

Selene took out a bag and started packing our new possessions into that tiny little thing. It must have been enchanted, it didn't sag or expand to indicate any sign of its items within.

See, things like that, I couldn't understand. How was it possible to shove a whole cart load of goods into a single bag without it bursting at the seams? I suspected you could put a whole washing machine into that thing without a problem, and how was that possible? Whatever was put into it didn't shrink to fit the bag, no, it went in straight as it was. How was it possible to compress atoms anyway?

 _Magic_ , I couldn't wrap my head around magic. It didn't make sense, but then again, it didn't make sense that my grandfather was Poseidon, and my grandmother was Athena.

"How do you feel?" Selene was asking, carefully, as though I was a time bomb, about to be set off any second now.

But she was wrong. I was calm. Calm like happy, peaceful clams that did nothing more than listen to the waves and the songs of the naiads. What a nightmare it would be for a demigod, with our inborn irresistible itch to be up and doing something.

It was nightfall, and I was away from home and everything I knew, without anyone knowing where I was. Sure, no biggie. I wasn't freaking out at all. I wasn't worried that someone would come, bursting in at the door, catching us in the act. I wasn't terrified of what would happen when I returned home and faced my parents. Nope. I was calm. As a clam. Was that even an expression?

She began, "You know you're eighteen in — "

"In a month, yes," I finished for her. "But — "

"But nothing," she interjected. "You have to break out of your bonds some time, _Calypso_ , and now is a good time as any."

Calypso, the daughter of a Titan, and my namesake. She had been trapped on an island by the gods, a beautiful home, but a prison nonetheless. Forced to care for heroes, forced to bid them goodbye, while she herself could never leave. Never could seek the mortal world; a long, cruel punishment for something she didn't do.

Leo set her free, I knew, but I wondered how many years she'd spent holed up inside Ogygia before that happened. How many years she'd missed, how many cultures and trends she'd never know.

I knew that Selene didn't understand what it was like to be me, to want so desperately to see the world, yet too scared to leave the protection of my home, too scared to even ask.

Too scared to upset my parents.

Yet here I was, wordlessly following my best friend to _Zeus_ knows where, without a plan of action. _Free._

I wondered if Calypso had felt the same rush of excitement, the same wave of anxiety, as she abandoned her routine and stepped into a world of unfamiliarity.

"Let's watch a horror movie," Selene said, and that was that.

* * *

Thirty minutes in and I was ready to jump at my own shadow. _What in Hades is that creepy crawling thing — WATCH OUT! No! DON'T open that door!_

CRACK; A splintering groan crackled overhead, and I jumped, glancing wide-eyed at my best friend who had leapt up from the couch as I'd did, pulling out a Celestial Bronze blade the length of her forearm.

I instinctively reached for the purity bracelet my mom had made when I was eleven, a simple silver charm I wore everywhere I went. A single jeweled key dangled from the chain, etched with the ancient Greek word _Aegis_ ; protect.

The mark begin to pulsate, a faint silver glow emanating from it, illuminating my hand. I tugged at the key, at the soothing light and it fell into my palm, the key vanishing and a sword took its place, Celestial Bronze gleaming silently in the darkness.

Silence.

Selene backed up, reaching behind her to flick on the lights, and that was when everything came crashing down around us. Literally.

A hulking beast fell through the ceiling and into the apartment, six arms flailing as he slammed into concrete, kicking up a storm of dust and debris. I might have gotten crushed under its weight had Selene not pulled me back at the last second, and we pressed up against the wall, eyes stinging and spluttering.

 _Gegenes_ ; Earthborn giant, just one of the many my parents had encountered in their youth. I'd often listened to their tales with rapt attention, marveling at how my parents had seemingly disintegrated these supposed malignant creatures with ease. I don't know about you, but seeing one up close, shoulders heaving and red-eyed anger, and I was terrified out of my mind.

All of a sudden, everything I had learned as a demigod, every story my parents had told me as a child, was scarily real. Training in the fight arena for battle and actually going up against a creature that once lived, two-dimensional in my textbook, nothing more than a list of descriptive words, was vastly different, and culture shock, if you will, had me rooted to the spot.

 _An actual Earthborn was trying to kill me…_

The eight-foot tall giant roared, all simmering heat and raw power, and _charged._

This was no longer a game, a test to be scored and corrected. The consequences here weren't just cleaning up the stables and being forced into extra training sessions to "work on weaknesses". This was actual life and death, and despite being familiar with my parents' feats, I didn't see how it was possible to win out against a thousand-year-old monster straight out of a horror movie that _was about to knock me over and KILL ME_.

A whirl of a sword, and suddenly I was out of the way, collapsing to the ground, my body splayed out uselessly behind me. I winced, as pain spread into my nervous system, though nothing seemed broken or sprained just yet.

A lone figure was keeping the giant at bay, with wild slashes of a glimmering sword, trading attacks and darting out of the way. Thrust, parry. A shadow dodged out of the way as two rock-hard fists swung toward where its head had been a second ago, and the figure reappeared behind the creature, stabbing his sword into the back of the monster's knee.

I glanced across the room, where Selene was just beginning to dizzily pick herself up, digging her dagger into the ground to steady her.

Something didn't quite add up. If she wasn't fending off the Earthborn, then who was?

The giant backhanded its opponent across the room, and a dash of dark hair came into view. A lean figure crumpled to the ground, groaning in pain. A sheen of sweat covered ashen skin, and his hair, the color of charred wood, stuck to his forehead in clumps.

The Earthborn took a step forward, raising a foot to ground the hero into dust underfoot.

For once in my life, I didn't think. Didn't try to come up with a multitude of options, or ingenious plans. I just went with the flow, the current of adrenaline rushing in my veins, the palpitations of my frenzied heart, and just _acted._

And my sword was catapulting through the air. An open palm suddenly empty; my heart raced, and time slowed down, as I watched the blade slice through the very air itself, barreling towards its target, gaining momentum with every stretched second.

The giant's foot was closing in on the distance, lowering onto his chest when — _shluck!_ Three of its arms were cleaved clean of their sockets, clattering to the ground beside it.

It stared at its limbs in surprise, falling back heavily onto the ground, a keening wail intermixed with unquenchable anger escaping lips that were seriously in need of chapstick.

The boy, who, I'd concluded, had appeared out of thin air, rolled out of the way, giving me a quick nod before springing to his feet, taking my sword with him. He struck before the Earthborn could even regain its balance, a slash across its enormous torso.

Selene got up to join him, darting here and there, quick as lightning, to confuse the beast, as well as work her way up a trail of stab wounds that were starting to disintegrate into dust.

I looked frantically around me. I had to do something to help, but what? I was without a weapon.

A shard of broken vase, a casualty of the whole ceiling-collapsing-on-us thing, lay beside me, and I picked it up, ignoring the ragged edges that dug into my flesh. It was no Celestial Bronze, but it will have to do for now.

And then I joined the fight.

The monster bellowed, a nasty guttural sound that reminded me of the beast that had dominated the television screen not so long ago, as we fought, slashing and feinting. It stumbled, and regained its footing, but not before we struck again.

The boy, whoever he was suddenly lifted his arms, and a circle of fire burst into existence, columns of flame pushing the creature back. I leapt back in surprise, but the tongues of fire leaned away from me, even though no wind filtered through the windows to alter its course.

The boy pulled his shoulder back, and released my sword through the flames and into the heart of the giant.

And it exploded into dust.

* * *

 _I make it a point to only update after I get the next chapter done, so I have chapter 3 as of now, but no chapter 4 yet. Hope you enjoy this! Click the little button (Review) below to talk to me? :)  
_

\- Aeri 


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